Pershing Early Learning Center

As a reasonably sized elementary campus in Decatur, Illinois, Pershing Early Learning Center enrolls 416 students from grade pre-K, part of Decatur SD 61.

Decatur SD 61 runs 15 schools in total, collectively educating 7,840 students. Pershing Early Learning Center is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Pershing Early Learning Center records that the largest single group is Black at 47%, but no single group is in the majority. The remainder comes out to 23% White, 19% multiracial, 9% Hispanic. That is visibly more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 16%.

On the income-and-resources front, Pershing Early Learning Center logs 16 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 26.0:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.9:1 average. About 81% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is higher than Macon County's rate of about 61%.

Around the school, the surrounding county (Macon County) logs that median household earnings sit near $62,666, about 24% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. In all, Macon County runs 43 public schools (combined enrollment of about 14,702 students), of which Pershing Early Learning Center is one.

Franklin Grove Elem School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.8 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The school occupies an urban site.

Over the past 7-year window. Pershing Early Learning Center's enrollment has contracted 17% since 2018, when it stood at 501 (now 416). Over the same period, the White share fell from 40% to 23%.

On this page, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.